Opinions of Thursday, 19 December 2013

Columnist: Johnson, Awura Esi

RE: Apraku, others likely to escape NPP sanction

I have read with disgust the decision by the NPP council of elders to invite Dr. Apraku and others for making comments which the council thinks could damage the unity of the party.
If the party leadership is looking for someone to discipline for causing disunity in the party, they should not look beyond Nana Addo and his supporters who have increasingly become intolerant of others and their views. At their November 24, 2013 branch meeting whilst Nana Addo was in attendance, the UK branch members broke the party’s protocol and norms and openly declared their support for Nana Addo by chanting NO NANA NO VOTE (N.N.N.V.)
While Nana Addo may not have anticipated the coming of this despicable behavior on the part of the UK branch, it happened in his presence and he had a moral obligation to ask them to stop the chanting or dissociate himself from such a divisive act. As report here and elsewhere by no less a person than the Mr. Gyamfi, the chairman of the UK youth branch, Nana Addo rather thanked them for their support.
A party genuinely seeking to maintain unity within its ranks would have officially and openly condemned the UK branch for their shameful and carless behavior. Has the party leadership kept quiet on the issue because Nana Addo was the beneficiary of the act?
I cannot think of any comment that is more damaging and divisive than members of the party saying they will not vote if one particular candidate does not win the leadership contest. So, if the council of elders is serious about cracking on those causing disunity in the party, then they should invite first, Nana and his UK and other supporters. Anything short of this goes to confirm how the party has been slowly been kidnapped by Nana Addo and his Mafia group.